


New Anxieties, Same Old Fears.

by ChipsNsalsa



Category: Splatoon
Genre: 4 is sort of there, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-08 04:42:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17974700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChipsNsalsa/pseuds/ChipsNsalsa
Summary: Now that inkopolis is saved its time to go back to the status quo.But is that really what everyone wants?





	1. An olive branch of pizza.

Things have gone back to normal after destroying the statue and freeing 8, but some of the secrets that were revealed has certainly made things… awkward.

Honestly, Marina had let adrenaline and emotions cloud her judgement when she tackled Pearl and practically smothered her. Marina still cringes at the memory. 

But at the same time there was no denying the sudden surge of affection felt when Pearl sent that beam right back into that evil phones face. 

The tackle hug wasn't even the end of it either. After everyone's injuries was tended to Pearl was glued to Marinas side and even fell asleep with her head on her shoulder on the ride back to their shared apartment. 

A lot of people who don't know Pearl would say that she is stupid and irrational but that could not be further from the truth. She has an incredible ability to spot patterns, from fashion trends to movie cliches. Which means she can tell when something doesn't belong, like a sour note or a botched rhyme. And that's great for making music but so very terrible for Marina. There is absolutely no way she didn't notice that her cohost is an octoling. 

Which leads to the present. Marina hasn't actually been face to face with the rapper since coming back from saving the world. She's just hiding in her room trying to write new music, like a coward. 

She sighs and puts her pen down. She was hoping that writing would be the distraction she needed until this awkwardness blows over. 

But it seems even her writing cant escape her love of the tiny princess. 

And it really is love isnt it? This desire to protect her, hold her hand, kiss away her insecurities, to pick her up when she feels down. Marina's biggest desire is to just love her with all of her very being and to be loved back with the same intensity. 

But now? Would that even be possible? While she didn't outright lie about being an inkling no one really questioned it. Would it be a lie by omission if no one asked? Is this revelation going to be the unraveling of her happy life?

It was one thing to be branded a traitor and barred from returning to the octarians but to be scorned and flat out hated at her new home would be nothing short of devastating. The Great War has shaped a lot of inklings perceptions and opinions on octolings. Then the movies and songs about it portray the octolings as weird looking inklings who started a war for no reason. Propaganda is a powerful tool. Marina knows that a little too well.

She's stopped writing long ago but takes one look at the paper before crumpling it up. Perhaps she will get some better inspiration tomorrow. …. 

TOMORROW! 

THEY HAVE TO DO THE NEWS TOMORROW!

There's no way she can even look in Pearls general direction without freaking out! Especially now she knows exactly what she feels towards the rapper. But confusing and scary feelings aside she is not being fair to Pearl right now. Because crush or not they are still friends and it would be terrible to waste a friendship like the one they have. It's time to rip this bandaid off.

Gathering up her determination, she stands up and makes her way to the door.

She pauses with her hand on the doorknob, her tentacles are wiggling erratically. That's gonna be a dead giveaway that something's wrong. Maybe a hat would be a good idea right now. 

Turning from the door towards the dresser she pulls out a box from a drawer. Inside the box is a collection of beanies. Beanies are the most superior hat, they are very soft and comfy, keeps you head and tentacles warm, and in a pinch can be used as a weapon so win-win.

She grabs the special one of a kind beanie from off the hooks first actual concert. It's the very first piece of merchandise they ever made. This would help keep her tentacles under control.  
Slipping the beanie on she takes one last steadying breath before throwing the door open.

Their apartment is unusually quiet. It's actually weird how lifeless and cold it is. Normally its filled with warmth and laughter. 

Marina is just standing in the living room trying to make her feet move forward when she hears Pearls door open. Pearl has certainly looked… better. Her eyes are droopy and bloodshot, she almost seemed to be vibrating.

“Oh uh hey Pearl feeling better?” 

She shakes her head no and pulls out her phone. She looks at Marina for a second before gesturing to Marina.

“Did you overdo it with the killer wail?” She says as she opens the text she received. 

MC👑: i think my voice is fucked

DJ🎧: have u been drinking tea?

MC👑: yea but i dont think its working

DJ🎧: what kind have u been using?

MC👑: all of them but they didnt do shit

DJ🎧: well u did scream justice into a statue.

MC👑: i didnt think it be this bad tho 

DJ🎧: do you want me to go get some soup?

MC👑: nah ill be good with tea i should probably grab another cup

A sharp knock at the door startles both of them. Pearl sends one more message before she runs back in her room.

MC👑: pizza ill get it

A few seconds later Pearl returns with a mischievous grin. Marina doesn’t know what's going on but hopes she’s not gonna scare the delivery driver off. They've kinda become acquaintances since this is the only person who hasn't freaked out when they deliver.

“Hello your total is- wow you look like shit.” 

Pearl grabs the paper she brought and writes something that has the delivery driver give her a suspicious look. 

“Uh huh and what else?” 

Pearl writes more and shows it to the driver.

“... okay i guess you're legit but how'd you find out… unless?” The driver looks over at Marina. 

Pearl shakes her head and motions for the driver to come in.

“As cool as that would be Im on the clock.” The driver passes the pizzas to Marina over the rappers head while she quickly writes something on the paper and gives it to the driver along with a bunch of cash.

“Cool I'll text you guys when I get my phone back  but you gave me too much.”

Pearl gives a nonchalant wave and closes the door. She turns around wearing the smuggest of grins. 

“Uh what was that about?” Marina really didn't follow what was going on.

Pearl grabs the paper and shows her what was on it. 

“Wait! That was Agent 4 and they've been the person delivering our pizza?” The news surprises her greatly, not knowing the squidbeak splatoon was so close. She is eternally grateful it wasn't agent 3. But she doesn't remember an agent 4 at all so they must be new. Hopefully they're not as…. persistent as their predecessor.

Pearl opens her pizza box and starts demolishing it with one hand while writing with the other hand, ”U think Marie couldnt call them cuz they were working?”

“I don't think they could have done much it was just a meeting.” Marina wonders if the pizza was supposed to be an olive branch between them. 

She's gonna make some tea to match the olive branch. 

“I'll make some more tea right quick.” Walking towards the kitchen she now notices the mess. On the counter there's a bunch of tea boxes ripped open and on the stove is a pot with ten different tea bags steeping in it.

“Pearl! Did you use all of these?” Marina looked over at her in alarm. 

MC👑: uh yeah more tea means better results

“How are you going to go to sleep with all that caffeine?”

MC👑: ill be fine ive done all nighters before

“Im gonna grab some juice instead of tea.” She grabs the little bottles of juice (one extra pulpy and one no pulp) and sits back down at the table. 

They both went quiet for a bit just munching on pizza when Marina remembered something, “Hey do you think you're good to do the news tomorrow or should I tell them you're still sick?”

Flipping the paper over Pearl writes,” nah i dont think theyd like us taking two days off.”

“I could do the news solo for a few days until you can talk again.”

“Are you sure cuz its gonna be super sucky since i wont be there.”

“I know how will I be able to go a WHOLE day without bullying my favorite co host.” she finishes the sentence with an overdramatic sign.

“Ur the one whos gonna get shoved in a locker nerd.”

“I would love to see you try.” 

They both have a little staring contest silently daring the other to look away.

Defeated, Pearl looked away and quickly wrote, “Fine ill buy a tall ass locker first thing tomorrow morning!!!” 

Marina let out a giggle that startled pearl but she couldn't help it, the mental image of pearl trying to push her in a locker was ridiculous. Pearl silently joined in the laughter. 

Once the mostly one sided laughter ended Marina said, “Speaking of tomorrow, we should probably go to sleep, if you even can.”

Pearl was running out of room so she had to write very small. 

“dont worry ill be out like a rock.”

“Do you still want me to wake you up in the morning? 

“Yea if u gotta be up that early i should to.”

“Also you should stick to soup tomorrow it would suck if you got sick from all the caffeine.”

“Yea ill do that. Goodnight”

“Goodnight, see you in the morning.”

Marina fell into a deep and pleasant sleep.

Pearl laid in bed and waited for night to be over.


	2. Midnight Snack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl is trying to take in all of the new information. She's at her wits end when a text from a new friend helps some pieces fall into place.

Maybe drinking all that tea was a bad idea. Pearl can feel her hearts trying to super jump out of her body. There's no way she can sleep like this.

Getting up with her blanket draped around her shoulders like a cape, she makes her way to the computer. First thing she does is order a tall ass locker off of E-BAY, then she pulls up the official Off the Hook website and looks through old pictures. Most of the early pictures has herself in the spotlight with Marina looking nervous off to the side, sporting her usual beanie.

Its kinda crazy to look back at these old pictures now knowing she's an octoling. That's probably why she was so camera shy back in the beginning. Pearl can't even imagine trying to keep a secret that big. All of the hiding and worrying, anxiously waiting for it to blow up. 

Clicking through, she really starts to notice how absent she was in the photos.  
And to think Pearl used to tease her about being shy. She really wants to strangle her younger self. But Marina's still here so that has to count for something….right?

Pearl starts drumming her fingers on the table. From what she saw on that file she was an engineer, so she must be tough as nails. No! Tougher than nails, like a whole nail factory. 

A shadow crosses pearls face, was she ever scared of her? Is she still scared of her? That’d be a first for sure. Everyone always thinks Pearl’s some kinda weakling who could be pushed around. After a beatdown or two they’d usually change their tune.

Pearl stops scrolling on the very first picture that has the both of them sharing the spotlight. She's standing on an amp with her arm around Marina's shoulder, both of them wearing wild grins that only comes from performing on stage. 

That was the first time Marina sung. It took weeks of prodding, annoying, and even begging before she finally sang. And she KILLED IT! (Pearl swears she saw someone get taken out on a stretcher.) After that concert was the moment Marina started to come out of her shell. Soon they fell into the comfortable routine of teasing each other. Nobody had ever understood the art of teasing. Whenever she tried to tease her old “friends” they would get all mad and storm off but if she ever got pissed at the endless ugly, big forehead, or short jokes she was suddenly “a crybaby who couldn't take what she dished out”. Which nowadays those kinda jokes don't really affect her anymore since all the good ones have been said already. People need to get new material. She stops drumming her fingers and rubs her eyes.

Ugh damn caffeine, she's getting off topic. She closes the webpage after saving the picture. 

It's time to think about the future. Their future if everything goes right. Because Pearl still wants to be in Marina's life. But that's if Marina even wants her to be apart of it. It really was a sucker punch to find out that 1) octolings aren't dead and 2) her best friend and co host is one. Based on the posters and videos about inklings, octolings do not like them at all. 

So while her chances of being with her might be zero percent. Pearl is fairly confident Marina doesn't downright hate her. Off the Hook’s dynamic has changed over the years but there's never been any negativity or secret hatred towards each other (The Daily Snail can take all of its clickbait and shove it). In fact, it feels like they've gotten more comfortable around each other. Which is a blessing and a curse. When they were doing the Love VS Money splatfest it kinda felt like Marina was hinting at something, especially with the lyrics but it was a Love themed splatfest so ??? Pearl might be reading between the lines a little too much trying to find something that doesn't exist. 

At this point, jumping to conclusions could have dire consequences. If she did lay her hearts out for Marina and she said no or if it turns out she’s always hated Pearl that would be the end of Off the Hook and would be the complete destruction of Pearl’s hearts. She lingers on that thought for a moment before sighing.

 

All of this heavy thinking is giving her a headache. Maybe a little snack would help. 

Gathering up her blanket she heads out of her room. She doesn't feel like turning any lights on so she just uses her phone like a flashlight. She carefully steps in front of Marina’s door because she can be quite the light sleeper. 

OH SHIT! Is it because she was in the military? Now that she thinks about that a lot of Marina’s quirks and mannerisms makes sense. Her hyper awareness of her surroundings, the way she doesn't let anyone clean or even hold her weapons, the exercises, her killer arms! …. Heh killer….

Pearl feels her face drain of color. Did...did she ever kill anyone? Isn’t that the whole point of a military? 

Pearl’s phone goes off and she drops it. 

Letting out a shaky breath Pearl picks it up and realizes she’s been standing in front of Marina’s door zoned out for a while now. Booking it towards the counter she sees who texted her. It’s an unknown number.

UN: hey is this the right number

Pearl’s pretty sure that this is agent 4 but just in case it’d be better to be completely sure. It’s always a nightmare if the media outlets leak their phone numbers. She gathers up her mayo and bread before typing out a reply.

MC👑: idk who is this

The person’s reply takes a bit longer so Pearl starts to make her snack. Five mayo sandwiches sounds heavenly right now.

UN: u gave it to me when i gave u pizza

MC👑: okay cool so ur agent 4

UN: yea how u find out about that

MC👑: its a long story but me marina agent 8 the old man and sort of agent 3 saved the entire world from a crazy telephone

UN: cool thanks

MC👑: it was mostly 8 doing all the work

UN: wait we have 8 agents i thought i was the newest

MC👑: the old man made her 8 cuz shes an octoling

UN: Like an actual octoling that wants to help the splatoon

MC👑: yea and she had to go through HELL to get to the surface so if u better watch what u say or else 🔪🔪

UN: does she have the salad stuff on her head

Pearl pauses in her attempt to open the mayo so she can reread that. Was that a joke or something?

MC👑: y would she have salad on her head

UN: idk ive fought some with like seaweed or kelp on their heads

MC👑: i dont think she had any

UN: dang i wanted to ask what that was about

MC👑: wait so uve fought octolings with salad on their heads

UN: ye hold on ill draw a pic

Pearl tries to remember if Marina ever had any kelp on her head. When they met she had some skimpy armor and some weird goggle looking things. While she waits for the drawing she starts to make some mayo sandwiches.

UN: untitled.jpeg

She opens the picture and it’s a quick doodle of an octoling with two green squiggly lines coming out of the forehead. The drawing is not half bad. If you crossed your eyes while looking at it.

UN: idk if it comes out their forehead but like its kinda hard to tell when 4 of them are drop kickin me in the face

MC👑: woah so like uve actually fought octolings

UN: ye and the little tentacle dudes too

MC👑: were the ones u fought like a blue green looking color

UN: nah they were red

MC👑: so uve fought a bunch of them right have u ever like … ya know

UN: killed anyone?

MC👑: yeah but like u dont have to say anything if u dont want to

Pearl goes to slam her head into the table before remembering she’s supposed to be quiet. Wow way to ask someone you barely know if their a murderer. She picks up a sandwich and gloomily munches on it. 

UN: i dont actually know i mean prolly cuz yaknow they dont have a lotta power down there but i usually try to like sneak around or rush past them

MC👑: is there a lot cuz the books said they were all dead after the war was there a cover up

UN: okay so how much of octoling stuff do you know

MC👑: not much i just found out Marina was an octoling a few hours ago

UN: wait marina as in the news person

Pearl was not gonna lie it was kinda validating to know that she wasn’t the only one who had no clue. 

MC👑: yea an if u gotta problem with that u gonna have to go thru me 👊💥

UN: dont worry i got no beef with any of the octos theyre all brainwashed by octavios propaganda

MC👑: who tf is octavio

UN: hes the leader i think havent met him so i cant say but from what i heard hes a real piece of work

MC👑: howd they end up underground

UN: okay so during the great war the octos cut off their hair and put it in a bucket of goopy nutrients and that grows a tentacle with a face and tiny legs and after a bit they turn into octolings (unless its a like a specific one idk about the others) 

MC👑: wait others???

UN: yea theres these ones that spit bombs and this one who flys with this helmet and then theres the bosses who r crazy strong

Getting this information all at once was starting to overwhelm the little rapper. A secret military made of octolings, or rather, octarians? stuck living underground. They live there with no power. So how do they get food? Why did 8 end up in the metro and not the underground? How did Marina escape? Was she forced to?

For once in her life Pearl was finding it hard to eat her mayo sandwich.

UN: uh hey i just realized thats its prolly not a smart idea to talk about this stuff by text so could u like delete the texts and maybe we could meet up in person 

MC👑: ill delete the texts but how about meeting up tomorrow

UN: i got to go check up on stuff but ill be over asap

MC👑: cool its gonna be nice to know what the fucks going on 

UN: its prolly gonna be a shit ton of info so u might wanna get some sleep so ur prepared

MC👑: hey if by stuff u mean checking up on 8 can u make sure shes okay 

UN: yea np ill send a pic if i can 

MC👑:okay cool see you tomorrow  
UN: see ya later

Finally some fucking answers. Sweeping the crumbs onto the floor Pearl gets up and grabs her things. So far the past few weeks has been an overload of information but maybe now things will finally make sense. Even if it doesn't she has to try for Marina. With a renewed determination she heads back to her room nervous but excited for what the future will bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo first 2 chapter fic! For right now this is done but I want to write more short fics while I finalize the timeline of the main fic Im planning on.
> 
> So send me some characters and ships and Ill see what comes out of the inspiration well.

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter is Pearls pov.
> 
> This is actually part of a longer series but I posted this one first because I am still trying to get a feel for writing the agents. Until then I will keep posting quick fics.


End file.
